Marcio Cabral, who wowed judges of the Natural History Museum’s annual photography award with his photo entitled “The Night Raider,” was stripped of his Wildlife Photographer of the Year prize after it was discovered the anteater he photographed was taxidermied.

The outfit doesn’t have rules so specific as to bar taxidermied animals, but the No. 1 rule of wildlife photography (it’s actually rule No. 4) is: “Entries must not deceive the viewer or attempt to misrepresent the reality of nature.”

So the museum believes Cabral’s photo violated that rule and stripped him of his award for “The Night Raider.”

But perhaps more interesting is the process the NHM went through to get to its decision. It wrote on its website that it was contacted in March by “anonymous sources who questioned the authenticity” of Cabral’s photo. It started an investigation right away, recruiting five scientists to help: two mammals expert, a taxidermy specialist, a South American mammals expert and an expert anteater researcher.

The anonymous sources who ratted on Cabral were very thorough: Their receipts included “high resolution photographs of a taxidermy anteater that is kept on open display at a visitor centre at the Portão do Bandeira gate, one of the entrances of the Emas National Park” — that’s where Cabral’s photo was taken.

The experts compared this anteater to the one in Cabral’s photo and concluded that the two anteaters’ posture, pose and fur pattern were much too similar for it to be a coincidence. There should have been more variation, they said.

Cabral, who cooperated fully with the museum’s investigation, denies that his photo included a taxidermied anteater, though he could not provide any other photos of the anteater. (Suspicious … Like, really, you come upon this amazing creature in this amazing setting and not only just take one photo, but that one photo is so perfect you submit it to a contest? How lucky!)

Cabral’s disqualification means he’ll be stripped of the award and his photo won’t be exhibited at the museum or any tours. Cabral also won’t be allowed to enter the competition again.